Fishkeeping Pet Peeves.....What's Yours?

[Deleted member 149562]

OK...so we have our aquariums all nicely set up, fish are healthy and all is good....

But sometimes something lets everything down...might be equipment or part of a piece of equipment or the scaping etc

No matter how well we take care of our aquatic box of tricks, something will misbehave and make you swear

My pet peeve is the sucker cup.

That small, squishy bit of rubbery stuff that goes on strike at the slightest opportunity. The worst offender by far is the filter sucker cup that waits til lights are out before slithering down the glass and plonking the filter onto the substrate by morning so I have to go fishing for it. Then you get the sucker cups that flatly refuse to let go of the glass no matter how much I pick and squiggle it, it will not come off. For such a small, relatively simple thing they are so badly behaved.

I have found a way around it...Aquael filters have adjustable hooks on their suction cup holders that can be made to fit over the rim of the aquarium so even if the suction cup does go on strike, the filter always stays exactly where you want it to be and not slithering to the bottom of the aquarium.

So what is your pet peeve in fishkeeping, the one thing that really winds you up due to its bad behaviour or not doing as its told...and what is your solution?

 

[itiwhetu]

The noisy filter, my wife hates being able to hear the tank. The tank needs to be there and silent.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Noisy air pump ...it can only go on top of the tank and it vibrates the hell of the lids I've tried putting it on a rubber mat, a cloth, a piece of cardboard....nope! Soooo noisy! Need a new one!

I second the suction cups, or at least the ones that keep my air bar in place, I find it many a morning just floating on the surface doing absolutely nothing it's supposed to

 

[StripySnailGirl04]

Fun fact:
Once I found a young guppy stuck inside a suction cup. Not sure how she got in there.

 

[gilpi]

Pumps and HOB filters (though there might be some quiet HOB's) I got a couple of old canister filters, all is good.

 

[GaryE]

Can this be plural peeve(s)?

Heaters. We need them, but the quest for profits means they are much less reliable than they once were. They can kill your fish, even if we do need them. I have a 20 year old major brand that still works, but every heater I've bought since has given me trouble after 2 to 5 years maximum. The same commercial mentality affects HOBs, as the slot media is garbage, and you have to retrofit them to operate like off the shelf models did in 1990. If you never used the old tech, you won't know how and that is a shame. The industry discovered they lasted forever as devices needing no new media, and intentionally undermined their own technology. That is a serious pet peeve for cheapskate me.

It's also a serious pet peeve for the side of me that doesn't want my hobby contributing to waste and landfills.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Probably having my own hands in my tank. I don't know, I guess I just feel like they are never clean enough, even after I wash them.

Agree with @wasmewasntit on the suction cups, the ones that come with filters/heaters are trash. Whenever I buy a new filter or heater, I just replace them with high quality ones.

Heaters. We need them, but the quest for profits means they are much less reliable than they once were. They can kill your fish, even if we do need them.

This ^. Had one of my favorite bettas get fried by an older heater that I thought was working. Always buy reliable heaters guys!

 

[Essjay]

I'm with wasmewasntit on the suckers. The suckers on the filter in the shrimp tank have not only stopped sticking to the glass, they've started falling out of the back of the filter. I did a water change and filter clean yesterday and this morning spotted a sucker lying on the bottom of the tank.

I am awaiting delivery of a replacement filter - an Aquael this time.

 

[Rocky998]

Pumps and HOB filters (though there might be some quiet HOB's) I got a couple of old canister filters, all is good.

I like my aquaclear... Just a very light trickle you hear if set up right... If you hate your HOB try an aquaclear... They are very nice!

 

[Rocky998]

My pet peeves?
Filter intake sponge on my aquaclear... At the slightest touch it falls off and then mulm and other gross things go everywhere in the tank... Then I have to try to get it out without squeezing it a lot...
Also my light, if you change the light intensity or color it cancels out the settings for the day. But then the next day it goes back to normal... But if you accidentally touch a button while cleaning the tank, it does that, so then you have to remember when to turn it off...
I also hate how expensive everything is for aquariums... Especially for just a glass box

 

[Oblio]

Filter intake sponge on my aquaclear... At the slightest touch it falls off and then mulm and other gross things go everywhere in the tank... Then I have to try to get it out without squeezing it a lot...

Twist or zip tie is your friend. I have a filter from some other manufacturer (Aqueon?) that was too loose and was getting sucked up, reducing the active sponge volume, several twist ties spliced together and tied round holds it in place.

 

[Slaphppy7]

My pet peeves?
Filter intake sponge on my aquaclear... At the slightest touch it falls off and then mulm and other gross things go everywhere in the tank... Then I have to try to get it out without squeezing it a lot...
Also my light, if you change the light intensity or color it cancels out the settings for the day. But then the next day it goes back to normal... But if you accidentally touch a button while cleaning the tank, it does that, so then you have to remember when to turn it off...
I also hate how expensive everything is for aquariums... Especially for just a glass box

Stainless Steel Mesh Pre-Filter Intake Guards For Aquariums Shrimps Tanks

www.jungleaquashrimp.com

Can't help with the light, though...

 

[Slaphppy7]

Twist or zip tie is your friend. I have a filter from some other manufacturer (Aqueon?) that was too loose and was getting sucked up, reducing the active sponge volume, several twist ties spliced together and tied round holds it in place.

Stainless Steel Mesh Pre-Filter Intake Guards For Aquariums Shrimps Tanks

www.jungleaquashrimp.com

 

[GaryE]

Twist ties, yes, but you can also use acrylic yarn tied around the sponge. Make it match your sweater.

I second the love of aquaclears, but not when there's a power blackout, even for a few seconds, and you have to manually restart the impeller. With a multiple tank set up, that's a pain, especially as the impeller shafts age and get a little uneven.

There are a lot of hacks for dealing with high prices. When I ran a 'fishtanks in schools' project, I had no budget and made all of the filters myself. Years later, one of the kids who asked a lot of questions turned up working at a high level for an aquarium manufacturer, and said that discussing ways to improve the homemade stuff had gotten him interested in the first place.

 

[Rocky998]

Stainless Steel Mesh Pre-Filter Intake Guards For Aquariums Shrimps Tanks

www.jungleaquashrimp.com

Can't help with the light, though...

Great idea! Thanks!